Linking the Malawian Diaspora to the Development of Malawi”
Malawi
Malawi (/məˈlɔːwi,məˈlɑːwi/; Chichewa pronunciation:[maláβi]; Tumbuka: Malaŵi), officially the Republic of Malawi and formerly known as Nyasaland, is a landlocked country in Southeastern Africa. It is bordered by Zambia to the west, Tanzania to the north and northeast, and Mozambique to the east, south and southwest. Malawi spans over 118,484 km2 (45,747 sq mi) and has an estimated population of 19,431,566 (as of January 2021). Malawi’s capital and largest city is Lilongwe. Its second-largest is Blantyre, its third-largest is Mzuzu and its fourth-largest is its former capital, Zomba.
United States ambassador to Malawi David Young has wowed Malawians after testing street food at a township in Lilongwe.
Young who has been serving as ambassador in Malawi since March this year, tried a local treat called on Mandasi (doughnut) at Area 18 in the Capital City.
A video shared by the United States Embassy Facebook page show Young helping make a few snacks before trying them.
“Based on your feedback and suggestions on what street food I should try, this week I visited Mrs. Margaret Makhuza in Area 18 A to try her delicious mandasi. People in Lilongwe have enjoyed her treats for years – and I can see why. She even let me try my hand at making a few. They are my new favorite treat! Thank you Mai Makhuza,” young was quoted as saying by the US Embassy.
Malawians on social media have since hailed Young for his initiative to connect with Malawians at all levels.
“He’s an African American Ambassador for us. Very interactive and socialite at heart. Thanks for trying our locals,” said one person on the US Embassy Facebook Page.
Another person: “Honestly I love this Ambassador David, the way he associate with the locals is just amazing, he loves Malawi. He is a humble man full of fun. Hope I will meet him one day,” he said.
One person Twitter said: “Koma Ada awa alibho. He has embraced Malawian culture.”
Others, however, were not happy with the ambassador’s act.
He will go home and write a shitty poverty porn book posing as an expert and make money.
Kaieteur News – On August 1, Guyanese will officially commemorate one of the most important days in our nation’s history—Emancipation Day. It is of particular importance as it allows for reflection on the triumph of the African spirit over decades of atrocities, dehumanisation, and cultural erosion.
In observance of the significance of this day, The Waterfalls thought it prudent to share a list of movies that incorporate the rich talents of black actors and actresses to explore themes of love, equality, liberation, brilliance, and resilience.
Do enjoy this list of timeless black features.
1. Cry Freedom: This is a 1987 epic apartheid drama film directed and produced by Richard Attenborough. It is set in late-1970s apartheid-era South Africa. The film centres on the real-life events involving South African activist Steve Biko and his friend Donald Woods, who initially finds him destructive, and attempts to understand his way of life. Denzel Washington stars as Biko, while Kevin Kline portrays Woods. Cry Freedom delves into the ideas of discrimination, political corruption, and the repercussions of violence. It is without question, a phenomenal documentary and a must-watch for all to understand the plight of Africans in modern South African history and the oppressive nature of the apartheid system.
2. Black Panther: This is a 2018 American superhero film based on the Marvel Comics character of the same name. It stars Chadwick Boseman as T’Challa/Black Panther alongside Michael B. Jordan, Lupita Nyong’o, Danai Gurira, Martin Freeman, Daniel Kaluuya, Letitia Wright, Winston Duke, Angela Bassett, Forest Whitaker, and Andy Serkis. In Black Panther, T’Challa is crowned king of Wakanda following his father’s death, but he is challenged by Killmonger (Jordan), who plans to abandon the country’s isolationist policies and begin a global revolution. In the end, only one can win.
3. Sarafina: This movie is all about strength, about people lacking it and people overflowing with it. Sarafina herself is a Soweto girl with great hopes for the future, despite her family’s poverty and her mother’s (Miriam Makeba) work away from home, forcing Sarafina to take care of her younger siblings. The movie is set in Johannesburg, during the Apartheid regime, and black children are forbidden to speak their own language. In spite of this, Sarafina dreams big and her world brightens up when her class gets a new teacher (played by Whoopi Goldberg), who teaches them about their worth and to be proud of their heritage.
4. The Colour Purple: This is a 1985 American film directed by Steven Spielberg and written by Menno Meyjes, based on the Pulitzer Prize-winning 1982 novel of the same name by Alice Walker. The cast stars Whoopi Goldberg in her breakthrough role, with Danny Glover, Oprah Winfrey, Margaret Avery, Rae Dawn Chong, Willard Pugh, and Adolph Caesar.
Filmed in Anson and Union counties in North Carolina, the film tells the story of a young African-American girl named Celie Harris and shows the problems African-American women experienced during the early 20th century, including domestic violence, incest, pedophilia, poverty, racism, and sexism. Celie is transformed as she finds her self-worth through the help of two strong female companions.
5. The Hate U Give: This is a 2018 American drama film that follows the fallout after a high school student witnesses a police shooting.
6. John Q: This is a 2002 American thriller drama film starring Denzel Washington and directed by Nick Cassavetes. The film tells the story of John Quincy Archibald (Denzel Washington), a father and husband whose son is diagnosed with an enlarged heart and who finds out he is unable to receive a transplant because HMO insurance will not cover it. He then decides to hold hostages at the hospital and force them to do it. It is a story that shows a father’s resolve to save his son no matter the cost or consequence.
7. Hidden Figures: In heartwarming, crowd-pleasing fashion, this movie celebrates the contributions of women to history. Specifically, it tells the inspiring true story of three African American female mathematicians who worked at the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) during the Space Race. The film stars Taraji P. Henson as Katherine Johnson, Octavia Spencer as Dorothy Vaughan, and Janelle Monáe as Mary Jackson. Kevin Costner, Kirsten Dunst, Jim Parsons, Mahershala Ali, Aldis Hodge, and Glen Powell are featured in supporting roles.
8. The Great Debaters: This is a 2007 American biographical drama film directed by and starring Denzel Washington. It is based on an article written about the Wiley College debate team by Tony Scherman for the spring 1997 issue of American Legacy. The film co-stars Forest Whitaker, Denzel Whitaker, Kimberly Elise, Nate Parker, Gina Ravera, Jermaine Williams and Jurnee Smollett. The screenplay is written by Robert Eisele, with story by Robert Eisele and Jeffrey Porro. Based on a true story, the plot revolves around the efforts of debate coach Melvin B. Tolson (Denzel Washington) at Wiley College, a historically black college related to the Methodist Episcopal Church, South (now The United Methodist Church), to place his team on equal footing with whites in the American South during the 1930s, when Jim Crow laws were common and lynch mobs were a fear for blacks. The Wiley team eventually succeeds to the point where they are able to debate Harvard University and win.
9. Django Unchained: Two years before the Civil War, Django (Jamie Foxx), a slave, finds himself accompanying an unorthodox German bounty hunter named Dr. King Schultz (Christoph Waltz) on a mission to capture the vicious Brittle brothers. Their travels take them to the infamous plantation of shady Calvin Candie (Leonardo DiCaprio), where Django’s long-lost wife (Kerry Washington) is still a slave. They worked together to free her but it was not without its fair share of riveting challenges.
10. Queen of Katwe: Starring David Oyelowo, Lupita Nyong’o, and Madina Nalwanga, this film depicts the inspiring true story of a girl from the slums of Uganda who becomes an international chess champion. It has strong themes of empathy, humility, integrity, perseverance, and teamwork.
11. Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom: Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom is a 2013 British-South African biographical film directed by Justin Chadwick from a script written by William Nicholson and starring Idris Elba and Naomie Harris. The film is based on the 1995 autobiographical book Long Walk to Freedom by anti-apartheid revolutionary and former South African President Nelson Mandela.
12. The Boy who harnessed the wind: This film is based on the true story of a Malawian boy named William Kamkwamba from the Kasungu region who witnesses a terrible drought in 2001. Driven by desperation William starts searching in books for a solution until he comes across the picture of a windmill. Since he lacks resources, he goes to the nearby garbage dump and uses what he could find to build s windmill. In successfully doing so, he is able to pump water from the ground for his family’s cornfields which leads to a successful crop being sown. Word of William’s windmill spreads and he is awarded a scholarship to attend school, ultimately receiving a degree from Dartmouth College.
African Development Bank Group President Dr. Akinwumi Adesina, was honored with the distinguished Ronald Harmon Brown Award of International Distinction, by the National Bar Association, in the United States.
The award is named in honor of Ron Brown, the first African American to Chair a major U.S. political party, and the first African American to be appointed Commerce Secretary.
Other award recipients include the NBA’s chief policy officer, Alicia Hughes, who received the organization’s highest award; Hajia Alima Mahama, Ambassador of the Republic of Ghana to the United States; and Kamil Olufowobi, CEO, Most Influential People of African Descent (MIPAD).
The black-tie gala was attended by over 800 black lawyers, including 20 past National Bar Association Presidents, and several elected officials. A lively fire side chat between National Bar Association President Carlos Moore and the 91-year-old Fred Gray, legendary chief counsel for the civil rights protest movement, set the stage for the night.
Moore cited Adesina’s transformative role as head of the African Development Bank, and as a former Nigerian Minister of Agriculture.
Receiving the award, Adesina lauded the late Ron Brown as an inspirational figure who believed that “every idea was an impossibility, until it is born.”
As President of the African Development Bank Group, Adesina said he and his team set out to accomplish the seemingly impossible. This included the largest ever general capital increase in the bank’s history, from $93 billion to $208 billion; a transformative High5 development strategy that has impacted 335 million Africans in six years; and the creation of the Africa Investment Forum, the continent’s premier investment marketplace, which has attracted $110 billion in investment interests in Africa, over three years.
In 2021, the African Development Bank was ranked the best multilateral financial institution in the world. In 2022, the African Development Bank was ranked the most transparent institution in the world, by Publish What You Fund, in terms of its sovereign operations.
Adesina, who dedicated the award to his wife Grace—”his inspiration and greatest supporter,” —said: “I thank all my staff and the management of the Bank for their exceptional work, and our Board of Directors for their incredible support. They make our ideas come to life. They turn impossibilities into possibilities.”
The National Bar Association was founded in 1925 and is the oldest and largest national network of predominantly African-American attorneys and judges. It represents the interests of approximately 65,000 lawyers, judges, law professors and law students. The NBA is organized around 23 substantive law sections, 10 divisions, 12 regions and 80 affiliate chapters throughout the United States and around the world. Source African Development Bank Group
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You are here: Home / News / Part 1: Swahili, Pan-Africanism and the Practice of Freedom.
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(ThyBlackMan.com) The rapid rise of the Swahili language to global reach and importance, reflected in the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) designating 7 July 2022 as World Swahili Language Day, brings with it a deep sense of elation and satisfaction in the good work done to all those in Africa, the US and the world who worked hard to achieve this rightful recognition.
Certainly, Swahili has achieved the global presence and importance that demands international recognition and engagement for its contributions to communications, education, culture, economics, politics and diplomacy. It is the most widespread language in Africa, spoken in 12 countries (Tanzania, Kenya, Uganda, Democratic Republic of Congo, Rwanda, Burundi, Somalia, South Sudan, Mozambique, Malawi, Zambia, Comoros) and introduced into the educational systems of various other African countries viz. South Africa, Botswana and Namibia.
It is also spoken in Yemen and Oman and is considered one of the 10 most spoken languages ??in the world with over 200 million speakers. Both my organization, the African American Cultural Center (Us), and I are greatly honored, proud, and pleased to be a significant part of the worldwide effort that achieved this historic recognition and moment by studying, teaching, protecting, and spreading Swahili throughout the United States and protecting it. at national and international conferences and various other venues, formally and informally since 1960.
We have also inspired many African-American scholars and activists to adopt, study, teach, and share it in various ways. It has thus become the most widely used continental African language in the US in speaking, naming and practicing and promoting projects and programs organized around Kwanzaa and on Nguzo Saba.
My interest and perception of Swahili begins in the context, consciousness and practice of liberation. In Tanzania, President Mwalimu Julius Nyerere established Swahili as the unifying national language. And he gave refuge and support to freedom fighters from other African countries and they learned Swahili and Swahili in the process became the language of liberation.
It was the same for us in the US, especially in the Kawaida movement among organizations like the Us Organization, Uhuru Sasa, The East, The Institute of Positive Education, Ahidiana and others. And we spoke it and taught it in our homes, organizations, and independent schools, and used it in formulating Kawaida concepts of culture, community, liberation, and struggle.
Self-aware as African and seeking a cultural basis for how best to understand and assert myself in liberating, liberating, and life-enhancing ways, I turned to the study of Africa. I was a student at Los Angeles City College when I began to immerse myself in the independent study of Africa, its peoples, history and cultures, its leaders and liberation movements and social thought.
Here the Swahili word used by Mwalimu Nyerere to urge deep commitment, zhitumbukiza, is most appropriate. Because it speaks of a self-aware and dedicated person who throws himself deep into thought and practice to achieve a goal.
As a student and activist intellectual, deeply involved in the Black Liberation Movement, as an African and as part of entering African consciousness, I decided that I needed to know a continental African language. For me, it was a means of reclaiming a lost heritage, not just of language, but of a distinctly African way of knowing, thinking, relating, and being in the world that was embedded in language and reflected in the views, values, and practices that language yielded.
For me, it was a communal way of understanding and affirming ourselves in the world, a relational way that teaches interconnectedness, mutual respect, reciprocity and shared good in our lives and the world.
Here I chose Kiswahili and was immediately asked about this choice instead of other African languages. My choice of Swahili over another African language as our main heritage language was primarily because I saw it as Pan-African, the most common African language spoken in several African countries. And I reasoned that we African-Americans are a pan-African people, a new nation or national community, originating from and composed of the many ethnicities, peoples, and nations of Africa.
Second, as a pan-African language, Swahili is not tied to one ethnic group like other African languages ??and thus did not involve for me the choice of one ethnic language over another, but the choice of the most inclusive and inclusive African language, again pan-African in character and meaning to us.
Moreover, choosing Swahili was for me, for us, an act of freedom, of self-determination, a practice of resistance. It was part of our choice to be African, despite the dominant society’s schizophrenic practice of on the one hand calling us African to humiliate us, and then denying that we were African when we defiantly claimed or reclaimed our identity as an African people.
It is therefore no accident, but due to a crucial and defining historical moment, that our conversion to Africa and Swahili began at the height of the Black Freedom Movement, the African Independence Movements and similar liberation movements around the world. As Haji Malcolm taught, we “were living in an age of revolution, and the (African-American) rebellion was part of the rebellion against oppression and colonialism that characterized that age.”
And Swahili became the main basis for building, pursuing and interpreting this resistance against various forms of oppression, ie. racism, colonialism and imperialism.
At LACC, I had studied Arabic and continued to study French, but there were no Swahili classes. So I studied on my own until I transferred to UCLA, where I took classes and furthered my studies, benefiting greatly from exchanges with Swahili-speaking students, especially from Tanzania and Kenya. Once grounded in the language, I began to teach it not only as a skill but also as a cultural experience, an African way of understanding and engaging others in the world. This includes the teaching of culture, proverbial wisdom, Abunuwas stories and related cultural and philosophical concepts from across the global African community.
Having chosen Swahili as my preferred heritage language, I taught it in public institutions and on television in 1963 and 1964 respectively and privileged it in my varied lectures on history, community, culture and struggle. Also, in 1964 I introduced and taught Swahili classes at the Fremont Senior School in Los Angeles. The class was scheduled for two evenings a week, but was overbooked with 100 students and had to be rescheduled for two hours and four evenings.
The principal reported that one-third of the students were undergraduates, one-third college graduates, and the other third were ordinary people interested in learning an African language to regain a sense of heritage. Some were interested in visiting East Africa, others in preparing for foreign service as the Peace Corp, and still others were interested in learning the language as a way to connect meaningfully with their African heritage and learn the worldview and values ??embedded in and expressed by the language.
I have always emphasized the communal nature of language and culture. Thus, I would contrast the English words “See you later” with the words “Tutaonana” meaning “see you (later)” in Swahili, which emphasizes the collective and reciprocal nature of the Swahili statement. Or I would create a discussion around why we would use “kwetu“our place, the home of “kwango”, my place, even if you live alone, again emphasizing the relational nature.
Again, this emphasizes the relational nature of this African language and culture and the fundamental concept of man as a person in community, rich in relationships and corresponding responsibilities to bring and maintain good in the world.
What: This morning, U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, limiting access to abortions across the country. American University has several experts available for commentary that have researched aspects of reproductive rights or worked in the public arena on abortion issues.
We will also be hosting a media briefing on Monday, June 27 with AU experts to discuss further. More details to follow later today.
When: June 24, 2022 – ongoing
Where: Via Skype, Zoom, email, telephone, or in-person
EXPERTS AVAILABLE:
Elizabeth Beske is a professor of legal rhetoric at AU’s Washington College of Law. She teaches civil procedure, federal courts, and constitutional law, and her scholarship focuses on Article III of U.S. Constitution, adjudicative retroactivity, and the separation of powers. Beske clerked for Judge Patricia M. Wald of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit and Justice Sandra Day O’Connor of the United States Supreme Court.
Caroline Bruckner is the managing director of the Kogod Tax Policy Center and professorial lecturer in AU’s Kogod School of Business. She has testified multiple times before the U.S. Congress and Internal Revenue Service and released ground-breaking research on the gig economy as well as women business owners and the U.S. tax code. She is available to comment on how a Roe v. Wade reversal would impact business and employees, and how workplace benefits may be expanded to support employees.
Sara Clarke Kaplanis director of AU’s Antiracist Research and Policy Center and a scholar of Black feminist studies. She has expertise in 19th– and 20th-century American/African American literary and cultural studies and is the author of the recently published The Black Reproductive: Feminism and the Politics of Freedom (University of Minnesota Press), which explores reproduction as the defining element of U.S. chattel slavery and its impact on contemporary reproductive politics. She can provide an antiracist analysis, including discussing how the overturning of Roe v. Wade will have a disproportionate impact on poor women, women of color and trans/gender-non-conforming pregnant people; the history of reproductive control and anti-abortion politics in Black communities; and how today’s policies of reproductive control reflect longstanding racial anxieties about decreasing white populations in the United States, among other issues.
Maya Manian is a professor of law and director of the Health Law Program at AU’s Washington College of Law. Her research focuses on access to reproductive health care and explores the relationship between reproductive rights and gender equality. She publishes and presents widely on abortion rights and related constitutional issues. Her publications include “Lessons from Personhood’s Defeat: Abortion Restrictions and Side Effects on Women’s Health” (Ohio State Law Journal, 2013); “Functional Parenting and Dysfunctional Abortion Policy: Reforming Parental Involvement Legislation” (Family Court Review, 2012); “The Irrational Woman: Informed Consent and Abortion Decision–Making” (Duke Journal of Gender Law & Policy, 2009); and “Rights, Remedies, and Facial Challenges” (Hastings Constitutional Law Quarterly, 2009).
Rachel Sullivan Robinson is a professor in the School of International Service, is an expert on global health interventions in sub-Saharan Africa, including family planning, HIV/AIDS, and sexuality education. She has used insights from field research in Namibia, Malawi, Nigeria, and Senegal to understand the prioritization of sexuality education in Mississippi, and also studies how social movements support sexual and gender minority populations in conservative contexts. Her research has been funded by the MacArthur Foundation, the Council of American Overseas Research Centers, and the National Science Foundation. Robinson can discuss issues related to abortion politics in sub-Saharan Africa, as well as how U.S. abortion politics influence health outcomes in countries receiving global health assistance from the U.S.
Jessica Waters is the dean of undergraduate education and vice provost for academic student services, is a faculty member in the School of Public Affairs and has also taught at the Washington College of Law. Her research focuses primarily on reproductive rights law and questions related to the legal impact of women’s medical decisions during pregnancy and childbirth, employment-based conscience protections for reproductive health care providers, and the reproductive rights of employees working for religiously affiliated employers. She has recently written on this issue for USATODAY.
Tracy A. Weitz is a professor of sociology and a national expert on abortion care, policy, culture, and politics. She has been a visiting scholar at the University of California at San Francisco, a senior fellow at the Center for American Progress, and the U.S. Programs Director at the Susan Thompson Buffett Foundation. Weitz co-founded and directed UCSF’s Advancing New Standards in Reproductive Health research program, which influenced the California legislature to pass AB154, which permits nurse practitioners, certified nurse midwives, and physician assistants to perform aspiration abortions. Six additional states have since implemented the same policy change. While at UCSF, Weitz also served as the founding executive director for the UCSF National Center of Excellence in Women’s Health.
Stephen Wermiel is a professor of practice in constitutional law and part of the program on law and government at the Washington College of Law. He is co-author of JUSTICE BRENNAN: LIBERAL CHAMPION, the definitive biography of the late Supreme Court Justice William J. Brennan Jr. He is also co-author of THE PROGENY: JUSTICE WILLIAM J. BRENNAN’S FIGHT TO PRESERVE THE LEGACY OF NEW YORK TIMES V. SULLIVAN, published by ABA Publishing in 2014. Wermiel holds expertise in the U.S. Supreme Court, having covered the court for the Wall Street Journal from 1979 until 1991. Wermiel teaches constitutional law, First Amendment and a seminar on the workings of the Supreme Court.
Contact: AU Communications, at 202-885-5950 or via e-mail at [email protected]
About American University
American University leverages the power and purpose of scholarship, learning, and community to impact our changing world. AU’s faculty, students, staff, and alumni are changemakers who shape the future from sustainability to social justice to the sciences. Building on our 128-year history of education and research in the public interest, we say ‘Challenge Accepted’ to addressing the world’s pressing issues. Our Change Can’t Wait comprehensive campaign creates transformative educational opportunities, advances research with impact, and builds stronger communities.
Below is a selection of her tweets. In the second half of the post are some wrap-up reflections from conference participants.
Despite concerns aired at the conference about workforce burnout, Simons observed, “the enthusiasm, storytelling, connections and engagement at this conference offer a lot of cause for optimism”.
Stay tuned for more stories to come, and follow this Twitter list, including more than 110 ICEM presenters and participants.
Sarah Simons tweets:
Why equity matters
The session was chaired by Dr Simon Judkins and Dr Ffion Davies, with a panel discussion facilited by Dr Clare Skinner.
Global health equity and the social determinants of health: the African experience
Dr Mulinda Nyirenda opened the plenary session talking about her experiences as an Emergency Physician in Malawi.
Access to care, system resilience and investment and funding in emergency care continue to be pertinent issues in Africa – more recent investment in resuscitation resources in particular has lead to a spike in better outcomes.
@MulindaNyirenda speaks about how the social determinants of health are increasingly prevalent in emergency care in Malawi, more so than with routine checks or elective care and even more relevant when looking at the challenges between rural and metropolitan healthcare access.
Emergency care in Malawi is primary care; staffing shortages and more broader resource limitations implicate access to healthcare; 40 percent of @MulindaNyirenda’s work is emergency resuscitation medicine but the remainder is often more primary care based.
NCDs are increasingly prevalent in Africa, especially hypertensive emergencies and strokes. Emergency care cannot be only for the rich.
Pursuing health equity for asylum seekers and displaced persons across the globe
Kon Karapanagiotidis, CEO and founder of the Asylum Seeker Resource Centre, said: “We have politicised what is a health and human rights issue… The heroes of every story are the refugees – those who fight, risk their life, dignity every day.”
There are still more than 200 refugees in Nauru living in squalor, but despite governmental failings, Karapanagiotidis speaks of the courage and compassion of the Australian public to uphold the human rights of refugees by protesting and blocking exits to hospitals to prevent deportation.
Health is a human right. Ahmed was 24 when he died of a foot infection in Nauru.
He talks about how @ASRC1 doubled down to keep doors open and cover medicines, supply food all through the pandemic. COVID mortality rates for Greek people in Melbourne are eight times higher than the general population – 13 times higher for Middle Eastern people.
So what if we cared for people before the crisis really begins? Prevention is better than cure.
Development of gender equity and equality systems in emergency medicine
Imron Subhan, India and Priyadarshini Marathe, United Kingdom
@imronsubhan and@PRIYAMARATHE10 speaking on the development of gender equity and equality systems in emergency medicine. “We’re here to make you uncomfortable. How does your patient’s gender matter in the ED?”
@imronsubhan has five minutes and one message: gender equality is not solely a woman’s problem. Sex and gender must be embedded early into our health curricula. Biases are introduced when medicine is taught as universal and unisex.
“Teaching gender equity and equality should be like basic life support” – lifesaving and not optional.
Dr Priyadarshini Marathe: Practical everyday tips and tricks for addressing biases and inequity: flagging biases on a ward round; create a WhatsApp group as a safe space with peers (for example, female colleagues in your workplace) to listen, empathise and share knowledge and experience.
Write yourself a couple of stock answers for educating peers and challenging interactions “it sounds we are at a different stage of learning about this”. Recommended reading with books/novels directing to lived experiences.
Equity, First Nations Peoples and healthcare
Professor Greg Phillips now shares insights from his 25 year career in equity and healthcare for First Nations people.
He describes 60,000 years of thriving First Nations culture, science, art, politics, geology, medicine and law long preceding colonisation in Australia.
Recognising privilege and white fragility on an individual and systematic level in healthcare is vital for health equity. It can be extremely confronting to have this pointed out to us as clinicians who genuinely believe we are always trying our best for our patients.
Aboriginal representation at every level and in every discipline is vital, as is rewriting health curricula and integration of culture.
How does our advocacy shape and influence future healthcare?
Professor Phillips references the legacy of the late Professor Paul Farmer who spoke about how the practice of medicine should not be about benevolence, but instead about social justice.
Health inequities in African American and Latin American communities: challenges and solutions
Dr Gillian Schmitz talks about health inequities in the USA, using COVID as an example of disparities in housing, transport, employment and diet influencing health and access to care for African American and Latin American communities.
This reinforces the need for screening in the ED: HIV, hepatitis, STIs as well as smoking cessation & opportunistic vaccinations for flu and hepatitis. Teaching communities about communicable diseases with appropriate language and translation provision is paramount.
@GillianMD1 also talks about firearm violence in the US, a subject that many Australian emergency clinicians are very fortunate to have limited experience of and a pertinent example of how health and political action are directly intersecting and implicated.
Indigenous health service equity
First up of the breakout sessions was Dr Glenn Harrison chairing a discussion on Indigenous health service equity.
Dr Inia Tomash was first up from Auckland, sharing his national research project on examining inequalities in Aotearoa NZ EDs with patient centred markers of care and mortality. Māori people are known to be high users of ED services with room for improvement of care.
Retrospective review of NZ ED admissions 2006-2012: 5.9 million presentations in total. After repression analyses and control for confounders, ED mortality and representation after ED discharge was significantly higher for Māori population, suggesting different patterns in ED usage between Māori & non-Māori people – younger, more deprived, longer triage time.
Tomash’s top tips for redressing ED inequity: accept that this a problem that needs addressing and that puts patients at risk. We can start by quantifying our own biases and develop our critical consciousness.
The mindset of “going overboard for difficult patients” needs to change; this should instead be normalised as the gold standard! Use the resources available and engage with local Indigenous health units, practitioners and liaison officers.
Innovation in First Nations dermatology Crystal Williams and Gabrielle Ebsworth
Gabrielle Ebsworth told us about her important work with the First Nations dermatology clinic. What started as a small rural telehealth service last February is now a dedicated successful face to face and telehealth service for and by First Nations people with easy, open referral processes and patient engagement. Demand currently far exceeds current resources and funding.
There are only four First Nations dermatologists in Australia, all of whom have only become fellows in the last two years. Part of the clinic’s work includes a monthly journal club for Victoria GPs to promote education, awareness and improve quality of referrals.
@g_ebsworth is very clear though – @TheRMH team don’t want this to be a national service. Aboriginal communities are not homogenous. Every region deserves and needs to have their own doctors and specialised services. More info is here.
Overcoming racism and bias Gina Bundle, senior Aboriginal Health Liasion officer @thewomens
Gina spoke about her lived experience of the legacy of the Stolen Generations, how she ensures the hospital is held to their apology to protect every First Nations woman and baby and keeps their promises.
Creating an environment that First Nations people can walk into and know that they feel safe is incredibly important – the presence of Indigenous artwork and possum skin cloaks in a healthcare setting is so much more than decoration.
Part of Gina’s role is to keep her colleagues’ diaries updated with important First Nations calendar events all year round. National Sorry Day is so more than just a march; she wants colleagues to visit their offices, seek advice and share experiences long after NAIDOC week.
Development of gender equity and equality systems
Gender equality in EM – where do we stand today? Dr Sally McCarthy says we still have some way to go – a brief glance at the predominantly female audience here speaks volumes about our approach to improving gender equality in EM and shows we have a long way to go still.
See the article mentioned above here.See the JAMA article here.
Persistence of gender inequality in developed countries – why? Dr Gayle Galletta talks about the persistence of gender inequality in developed countries, sharing her experiences as an American Emergency Physician in Norway.
Taking women leadership to the next level – the 2.0 move Dr Kim Hansen
Equity through advocacy
The role and power of research Professor Brendan Crabb – @CrabbBrendan – shares about how research can be integrated into community care in order to build capacity and self sustained progression in emergency healthcare.
He describes the malaria incidence as an example – barriers to malaria are both technical and non technical requiring a variety of approaches. Research is a powerful tool of hope and a valuable a starting point to implement real, physical change.
The role and power of politics and advocacy for emergency care from the Tuvalu perspective Dr Aloima Taufilo, Tuvalu
Wise words and inspirational efforts from @ATaufilo as she reflects on the power of social media communication to maintain and strengthen not only health literacy but political relationships to advocate for more than 2,000 Tuvali people with COVID last year.
Societal racism feeds into health system, clinician and patient factors – doctors often take cognitive shortcuts in decision making processes, with challenges including time constraints, multi tasking, need for closure, stress and sleep deprivation.
The role and power of education Professor Papaarangi Reid, Aotearoa/New Zealand, talks about the power of education. A key message of COVID was to “listen to the scientists” but this proved insufficient; the science also needs political will and social capital to get anywhere.
The role and power of the media Jo Chandler, Australian journalist
“Did it make a difference?” It can be difficult to know without a parallel universe, but shortly after publication an urgent and reactive mobilisation of resources and funding was injected into PNG.
How do we weigh up the risks of media advocacy and subsequent media exposure to advocate for vulnerable people? A great audience question from Dr Georgina Phillips in our advocacy plenary.
@jo_m_chandler answers that one blessing of social media is immediate engagement w educative, practice changing and informative feedback in real time. Longevity of journalistic relationships is also vital to build relationships and share narratives without damaging consequences.
The role and power of professional advocacy Dr Dinesh Palipana shares his story with our audience – half way through university, he acquired a life changing spinal cord injury in a car accident. He found himself negotiating a minefield of challenges related to his disability & went on to complete medical school
He tells us how the ability to advocate for others reflects an immense position of privilege. Our titles and positions as doctors afford us great authority and privilege. Sometimes we don’t dare to speak up, for fear of reprobation, loss of status, vanity or fear.
“The biggest mistake a physician can make is to treat someone’s body but not their soul.” We have a responsibility to our communities, to acknowledge our privilege and to speak up with courage and make powerful people feel uncomfortable.
Dr Jenny Jamieson concludes today’s events, describing how Emergency Medicine sits at the coalface of society, combining science, sociology, anthropology and health.
In my view, the enthusiasm, storytelling, connections and engagement at this conference offer a lot of cause for optimism.
A final point: as emergency doctors we’re used to life and death situations, and many of us learn how to detach when things get tough for our own psychological self preservation. We need to be empathetic with humanity and humility but burnout is real. How do we find the balance?
Trainee matters
The author at work
Final conference reflections
As the conference wound up, participants shared reflections.
Thanks tweeps!
The Croakey Conference News Service team acknowledges and thanks #ICEM22 participants for their engaged and contributory tweeting.
According to Symplur analytics, 1,287 Twitter accounts engaged with the hashtag, sending 9,689 tweets and creating 88.2 million Twitter impressions during the period 10-22 June.
See the article mentioned above 
See the JAMA article 
The hashtag also trended on 16 June.
